Iran’s acting top diplomat visits Lebanon in the first official visit since his predecessor’s death

By ABBY SEWELL
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Iran’s acting foreign minister has arrived in Lebanon on his first official diplomatic visit since his predecessor died in a helicopter crash last month. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reports that Ali Bagheri Kani will visit Lebanon and then Syria “to meet with the two countries’ officials as well as the officials of the resistance front to discuss ways to counter (Israel).” Iran backs a number of armed factions in the region, of which Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah is widely seen as the most powerful. Hezbollah would be Tehran’s first line of defense in case of a direct conflict between Iran and Israel.